The LA Times (with Variety confirming the details) has unveiled details of CNN+'s pricing structure. Quoting from their article:
CNN+ is scheduled to launch during the last week in March. Initially, the service will be offered for $2.99 a month, a rate locked in for life as long as the account is active. When that deal expires, CNN+ will be available for $5.99 a month, the same price as the Fox News streaming service Fox Nation.
CNN also has plans to eventually offer a lower priced version of CNN+ that will be advertiser-supported. CNN+ will also be available in a package deal with HBO Max, just as Disney offers its flagship streaming service Disney+ with ESPN+ and Hulu.
Reputable America media insider Scott Jones (through his blog, FTVLive) is reporting that Chris Licht is starting to make decisions on CNNâs future. The first victims are CNNâs media pundits and hosts of Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter and Oliver Darcy, who are being told to cut their aggressive attacks on Fox Newsâ pundits.
This is happening in a moment where CNN/US is rapidly losing most of its audience and unable to guarantee the leadership it traditionally had in long-form breaking news events (like the Ukraine invasion), even trailing Fox and MSNBC (but at times coming into a close second).
The widely awaited CNN+ will be launched in the U.S. March 29. As told, the price will be $5.99 per month, with a first month discount for new subscribers of $2.99, and will be sold with HBO Max in bundle coming soon.
Hereâs the full programming slate available at launch.
CNN still plans a limited global expansion of the service (for example, in the UK, to replace the CNN Live offer), even if the merger with Discovery is happening soon.
In a side note, CNNâs longtime fashion correspondent Elsa Klensch, an Aussie native, and one of the networkâs original correspondents, whose Style with Elsa Klensch was the most popular weekend show at the broadcaster, running for almost 21 years until her resignation, died last Friday at 92.
Just five days before CNN+ launches in the US, and CNN is announcing that starting Monday, the CNNgo service (which offered authenticated streams to cable subscribers in the US) will be sunset, and itâs content integrated into a CNN streaming hub, which will be featuring both CNN+ and soon-to-be-former CNNgo content. The new hub will still be available directly through CNNâs apps and website in the US, complimenting the current editorial-based website.
As expected, the streaming hub will have a user interface similar to that of HBO Max. The service will offer, alongside featured content, a search engine and waitlist, a section for live content, the so-called Interview Club, which will feature live, interactive programming with CNN personalities, and a completely separate space for Live TV authenticated streams.
CNN+'s future is on life support. The newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery has suspended all external marketing spend for CNN+, according to Axios. The service has fewer than 150k subscribers and fewer than 10k people watching their live news bulletins, far away from the numbers CNN forecasted for profitability. The service is also hampered by late platform deals: it launched just two weeks ago on Roku, and an app for Android TV is still unavailable.
Additionally, WBD is planning to redirect resources for all its streaming services, including all of them operated by the former Discovery (Discovery+, GOLFTV and Food Network Kitchen) into HBO Max. It also plans to move some content into that platform and other into the free CNN website.
Also big news in the TV side: CNN plans to discontinue the temporary CNN Tonight opinion slot, which replaced Chris Cuomoâs hour after being fired. It plans to reinstate a full hour of news into the 9pm hour to replace that show, which features rotating hosts.
Canât say Iâm terribly surprised. CNN isnât exactly a premium product anymore. Their reputation for gold standard rolling news has diminished thanks to their never-ending love of just having a panel of political âexpertsâ on to talk about any issue. Why anyone would want to subscribe to MORE of that is beyond me.
CNN need to shift their focus back onto their actual bread and butter, which is their 24 hour news channels. More news bulletins, less opinion segments/panels of experts and a heavier focus on global issues. Plus, restore CNNI to its former status as a rolling news station and quit dumping international bulletins for US domestic opinion shows. They have Chris Wallace - put him on a Sunday morning show or utilise him for big domestic political stories. There is a lot they could do to turn CNN around.
Most importantly, they need to get out of the habits they formed during the Trump era. That style of presenting was great for a time when scandal was a daily occurrence - it really doesnât work now though. Having a âpanel of expertsâ on to talk about Ukraine is a cop out when they could be crossing to their reporters on the ground there.
why could i pay for CNN+ when there are services like flash, that have multiple news outlets on it? the days of a 1 channel subscription service, unless for sport is over (iâ,m thinking of MLB tv and WWE Network). thereâs only so much money going around
MSNBC might be good for media spy nerds - but itâs not the kind of content that will drive subs of flash and make the service a success.
Flash needs more original sky news content - as well as exclusive content / deals from ABC, 7, 9, SMH, The age etc. It needs mass appeal news that people want. Not niche US political news.
MSNBC has almost zero appeal in Australia. Its not what will remotely move the dial for Flash.
News Corp will be discussing the future of Flash now CNN+ has folded so fast I wouild imagine. It will spook them.
Pretty extraordinary demise. Feel sorry for all the behind the scenes staff.
Wonder if theyâll move Chris Wallace or Kasie Hunt to the vacant 9pm hour on CNN.
Reckon they might also keep â5 thingsâ for cnn.com
So sad for CNN however it was doomed as they announced it before their corporate merger with Warner/Discovery and Warner/Discovery didnât want a separate streaming service for CNN at all! But putting that bit aside, with the streaming market absolutely saturated its a warning for the other âbigâ media and content conglomerates of the real world economics and feasibility. With Netflix losing customers for the first time in 10 years, there will be a natural correction in the market and no doubt more streaming closures or merges in the future.
Pretty much the gist of what I got from that article above.
It seems a little daft that they went ahead with it as late as this when they would have known the merger wouldâve been completed pretty much imminently, and with the CEO to have come from Discovery and not WarnerMedia (although at the time this might not have been finalised, they wouldâve had a fair inkling) who likely has a different idea about CNNâs place in the world to AT&T and Ted Turner before them.
It would have been at least nine months of prep down the drain - but thatâs television I guess. Bit of a lose-lose proposition for CNN either way though, particularly morale wise. Maybe theyâll find some spots for some of the content on what whatever streaming service they end up with (Iâm assuming itâs a fait accompli that HBO Max and Discovery+ will be amalgamated at some point, which probably doomed CNN+ even more) but rolling news may be a hard fit for that.
Seems a lot of the content being made will be used elsewhere across assets, theyâre just simplifying their SVOD offerings in the market and they realise now (albeit an expensive exercise) that there was little appetite for CNN+.
Axios, a reputed, short-form news and analysis website, known for its exclusives and scoops, published a lengthy analysis by its media specialist on the fall of CNN+, including reports on their staff, which are suffering from the news, and reporting that half of the CNN+ staff will be laid off with a short-term 3-month pay and up to six months of severance; the rest will move to either the CNN core newsroom or to HBO Max.
As many of you have thought, most CNN+ shows are being shopped elsewhere to other CNN properties (and not being outright dropped, as many other media and entertainment insider outlets said). For example, the Interview Club and the daily short form programming (like 5 Things and Go There) are likely to move (back) to the ad-supported CNN website and apps, with soft news, talkers and the Original Series moving to the new HBO Max. Additionally, sheâs reporting that Chris Wallaceâs show will be one of the key elements of CNNâs new prime time line-up, which will be led by the straightforward 9pm news hour, as reported by them; he will also have an increased role in the linear networkâs programming:
Shocking news coming on the CNNI fold. Hala Gorani has left CNN to concentrate in personal projects, as she announced on her Instagram story. Additionally, this is really ill-timed, given the recent Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Will keep updating this post as it happens.
